Security tightened at Chinese Embassy in Delhi

New Delhi, Mar 22 (ANI): Security in and around the Chinese Embassy here was tightened on Saturday, a day after Tibetan protesters’ stormed the complex. “Additional forces have been deployed around the embassy, including at the rear side of the compound, and barricades, leading up to the complex, have been increased,” a senior police officer said. Several Tibetan protesters, mostly students, scaled the walls of the embassy complex located at the high-security Chanakyapuri area on Friday, waving the Tibetan flag and draped in banners carrying anti-China slogans. “The Panchsheel road which the protesters took to arrive at the complex has also been closed for public and additional force have been deployed there also,” police said. A tight vigil is also being kept on passersby. Thirty-three Tibetan protesters were arrested on Friday for storming the embassy premises.They had only managed to reach the lawns of the Cultural Centre which is separated from the main embassy building by a wall. The incident took place even as the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, arrived in the capital to preside over a three-day meditation session. Around 150 Tibetans have been arrested during last two weeks when they unsuccessfully attempted to barge into the Chinese Embassy. Meanwhile,according to a Xinhua news agency report, the Chinese Government has officially confirmed the death of 19 people in riots in Tibetan capital Lhasa. According to the report, 18 of the 19 were burnt or hacked to death, and a policeman had also died in Lhasa.A total of 382 people were wounded, 58 seriously. Arsonists set fire to 908 shops, 84 vehicles, seven schools and 120 homes, the agency said. The rising toll comes amid mounting international concern over China’s handling of the protests, overshadowing the run-up to the Beijing Olympic Games in August that the host hopes will be a celebration of its arrival as a world power. Lhasa Police has also issued a ‘Most Wanted’ list of 21 suspects and posted their pictures on the Internet. Exiled Tibetans claim as many as 100 have died in the protests which spilled over this week into neighbouring ethnic-Tibetan areas.(ANI)